PROVO — Yellowing with age or fresh off the press, a newspaper can be a genealogist's window to an ancestor's soul, says Barry Ewell.

"Newspapers are untapped for genealogy use," Ewell said.

Ewell said he had no interest in genealogical research until after his mother's death. At that time he realized he didn't know her very well. In subsequent months after her death he had three dreams where she came to him. In the first two she encouraged him to tell the children about her. Time passed between the dreams. He said the third time she said, "Tell the children about me, now!"

That sense of urgency made him an overnight convert to genealogical research. One of his greatest resources for family information was the local newspaper.

Ewell, who taught a class titled Newspapers: Hidden Family Treasures at BYU's Education Week, found family members as he researched old newspapers. He found numerous articles on his grandfather.

And genealogy or family research doesn't stop at the obituary page. Ewell listed a number of sections and ways a person can find valuable information.

A lot of genealogists get stuck on the statistical aspects of research: the who, when and where. To truly learn about their ancestors, researchers should seek out the what, why and how of their lives, as well. Newspapers can provide those important components.

Ewell showed many examples of news clippings using his own family members as examples. Perhaps as a child your ancestor was a student of the week, an honored Scout, a pageant winner, a member of a club or football hero. Perhaps as adults they were in business and advertised in the paper, or ran for public office, or spoke at the Kiwanis club. There are many ways to find out about your family and the friends and associates they had.

"Your ancestors lived in a world with people all around them, " said Ewell. "Newspapers are the journal of our communities."

References to their lives could be in legal notices, society pages, advertisements and photographs. Did they fight in a war or perform in a play? Many stories reveal more about the individual and with whom they associated. If possible, find those friends. If they are still living, talk to them about the loved one.

"Newspapers are full of our life," Ewell said. "When articles were found pertaining to (my) family, the entire page was scanned. The article (on the family member) was later cropped from the full page to create two files."

Getting an entire page of news with information on it allows a researcher to see what influenced their lives — in the city, state, nation and world.